Heroes: Infinity - A New Beginning (Book 2)

 Chapter 1 - The Gathering Storm

Abby stared at the list of names glumly.  "We're just not ready," she said with a sigh.  If Cal decides to come at us now, we just don't have the firepower to take him on."

"I know", Cherry replied.  "The fact is we lost most of our most powerful heroes in the explosion, and the ones that weren't lost were scattered to the four corners of the earth.  A few have returned, but not nearly enough to deal with the likes of Caliente."

Abby went back to the file containing all the threatening communications they'd received from Caliente over the past few months.  Most of them were pretty cryptic, but the last one was alarming - a picture of gravestones over empty graves.  The names were blacked out, but the date was specific - October 29, 2021.  He was planning something for the 1st anniversary of the new Heroes.

"We've got to figure out what he's planning", Abby Remarked.  "I'm sure two of those graves are reserved for you and me. It's no secret we're the ones he's gunning for".

"Well, we're not going to learn anything new from that file", Cherry responded.  We're just tying ourselves up in knots, which is precisely what he wants.  Who knows, maybe it's just a big mind game, and he's not really planning anything."

"Oh, come on, Cherry, get real.  This is the person who single-handedly destroyed the original club and killed many people in the process - people we knew and loved.  And he's had years to plan this.  Saying this is just a mind game is just wishful thinking."

Cherry sighed.  "Yeah, I know you're right.  But sometimes, you need wishful thinking to get yourself ready for what's coming."

Suddenly Beth burst into the room with Cait right behind her.  

"Good, thank god you're both here!" Beth exclaimed.  "Hold on to your hats because I've got some new information that changes everything!"

End Chapter 1

Chapter 2 – Caliente

He stood, stroking his thick grey beard, looking out from his floor to ceiling window across the land he now owned.  

Behind him sat a young woman, naked, curled up on the bed, reading the story.

""They still blame me,"" he said, not looking back, ""after all this time, they still blame me.""

""Have you not told them?"" she asked, looking back to him.

The man turned to face her, ""I tried. They didn't want to listen. They chose their scapegoat and ran with it.""

""And now they've they've re-opened?""

""Yeah,"" he looked off into the distance, ""and the real villain is still out there.  They have no idea how much danger they're in.""

""Why do you even care?"" the woman asked, ""They convicted and sentenced you without so much as reaching out to you.  They took everything at face value and blamed you without even giving you a chance to defend yourself.  Let them find out the hard way how wrong they were and are.

""You are right,"" he said, ""but that is from a business point of view. For me, the truth is important.  And them restarting reminds me that somewhere, out there, is someone who has framed me and is getting away with it.  And, I want my life back."" he said firmly.

End Chapter 2

Chapter 3 - Turnabout

"Oh, come on, Beth, you don't seriously expect us to believe this nonsense?!"  Abby exclaimed.  After all these years, you expect us to believe that Cal was framed and is actually innocent?  We SAW him pull the lever.  We HEARD him tell us he was going to do it.  Framed my ass, he's as guilty as Capone".

"Hear me out", Beth replied calmly.  "Believe me, I wouldn't even bring this up unless I was pretty damn sure it was true.  When Cal reached out to me originally, I felt exactly the same way you did.  But I decided to hear him out, and the more I listened, the more what he said made sense."  After a dramatic pause, Beth continued."  Now think back to the night of the last party.  I know it's painful, but this is important.  I had spoken to Cal right before the explosion.  If you remember, Cal was wearing his Hero costume that night, as most of us were.  Now think back to when he was monologuing just before he pulled the switch.  He was in street clothes.  Why would he change out of his Heroes costume and get into street clothes just to blow the place up?  It doesn't make any sense."

"Ok fine", Cherry grunted"  I'll grant you that's strange, but like Abby said, it was him.   We all saw him."

"Did we?"  Abby said with an uncertain look, "Or was we manipulated into thinking that's what we saw?"

"Oh come on, Abby, don't tell me you're buying this malarkey", Cherry snorted.  "We all saw him with our own eyes.  It was him.  It couldn't have been anyone else."

"No, there is one other possibility," Abby said thoughtfully.  She looked at Beth intently. "A shape shifter?" she asked softly.

"A Shape Shifter".  Beth replied definitively.

"This is all theory and conjecture", Cherry replied.  I don't see a shred of evidence here to prove this wild theory.  All I see is a master villain trying to throw us off guard before he drops the hammer on us".

"Agreed," said Beth, "So let's get some then."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" asked Cherry.

"Well," Beth said,  "Shape Shifters emit a unique form of radiation that has a half-life of 20 years.  I have a device that can be configured to detect this radiation.  If we go back to ground zero, then we should be able to tell definitively if he was, in fact, a shapeshifter."

"Jesus Christ, how do you know all this crap?!"  Cherry replied, a shocked expression on her face.

"I'm Beth", Beth replied with a wink.

End Chapter 3

Chapter 4  - Ghosts

Caliente thought back to that fateful week; he would never forget.

This was to be the final party, the swansong for Heroes 1.0.  After the party, everyone would take some time off while Ro finished building the new club. There had been talks of just calling it a wrap and closing the club, but that wasn't what everyone wanted.  So plans were made for a final bash in the old club, and then it was to be on to Heroes 2.0.  

Then came the night of the party.  So many people were there, people who, in some cases, had not been to the club for years.  Some who just occasionally popped by, people who Caliente had not seen in a long time.

There was E, another member of the English Mafia that had been a big part of the club.  In one of her usual skimpy outfits, Becky was there, showing off her body and drumming up business for her stripping job.  There were Codi and Ricca, Second Life's power couple.

As the party went on, there was dancing and frivolity. Caliente's mouth hurt from laughing so much, waving enthusiastically to everyone.  He then saw Beth out the corner of his eye.  He walked over to her.

"It's all so sad," she said, "I can't believe it's coming to an end."

"Well, hopefully, the new club will be even better," Caliente said, standing beside her.

"You think so?"

"Who knows," he said, smiling warmly at her, "Abby doesn't seem keen; she seems more interested in her fashion business now."

"Well," Beth said, "it pays the bills."

Caliente smiled.  Beth was always good for small talk, but she was not someone he knew well.  She was in the Australian time zone, and it was not often they saw each other.

"I just need to go see something over there," Beth said politely before moving away.  She was always shy but always around.

"That's ok," Caliente responded, "I need to make a pit-stop anyway."

Cal walked around the corner towards the men's room, but suddenly he felt a prick in his neck, and then everything went dark.  When he awoke, he was alone in a dimly lit room in what looked to be a basement.  He was alone, but there was a note pinned to the door:

"Caliente... by the time you read this, Heroes will be gone, all of your friends will be dead, and you will be blamed for it.  As much as I'm going to enjoy watching that club burn, I'm going to enjoy watching you go down for it even more. You're all getting what you deserve, and you deserve the worst of all."

The paper must have been treated with a chemical that reacts to human skin because it burst into flames shortly after he finished reading it.

When he emerged from the basement, his life had been changed forever. Precisely as the note had said, the club had been destroyed.  Many heroes, his friends, had been killed.  And he was being blamed.

There was no choice; he had to go on the run; it was the only chance he had to figure out who was behind this and prove his innocence.  

Suddenly Cal snapped back to the present.  That's it, he said to himself.  Abby and Cherry would never listen to him; they were too emotionally damaged from it.  But there was one person he could reach out to that was just close enough to him to listen and just distant enough to maybe actually believe him - Beth.

End Chapter 4 

Chapter 5 - Ground Zero

Cherry and Abby braced themselves for the trip back to ground zero.  They had not been back to that spot since the explosion destroyed the club and killed many beloved heroes.  If they'd had a choice, neither of them would have gone back there ever again.  But this had to be done.  They had to know.  And if what Beth suspected turned out to be accurate, they owed Cal a colossal apology.

They had rallied the troupes for the ground zero excursion.  Becky was there in a typical leggy outfit. Of course, Cait and Beth were there, and Super was there, powered up and ready for action.  Cherry felt better having her super-sis there with them.  If this turned out to be a trap, they'd need her firepower!.  Even Ranos had come along.  Ranos had taken a much more active role in the new club, helping with scripting and even tending the club's sheep!  Cat and Annie had come along for moral support, and even Wyn was there, her blond hair glistening in the sun.

Cal was already on-site when they got there.  Cherry and Abby stared at him with a mixture of distrust and hopefulness.  Cal stared returned the stare with a deadpanned look that conveyed neither emotion nor malice.

"I had never wanted to come back to this place again," Abby said finally.

"None of us did", replied Cal.  Cherry shot him a sharp look but remained silent (undoubtedly one of the signs of the apocalypse!)

"I'm hungry," said Ranos vaguely.

"Ok, let's do it," said Beth, rolling her eyes at Ranos.  "I need to calibrate the Teslamagitron to detect the hyperstatic radiation emitted by shapeshifters when not in their natural form.  This will require me to adjust the quantum flux to..."

"OH MY GOD!  JUST SHUT UP AND DO IT!"  Cait interrupted.

Beth snickered a little; she just loved to get Cait's goat.  "Ok, give me a minute."

"How long is this going to take?"  Becky questioned.  "I have a show tonight.  Why do you guys always schedule these things on the nights my biggest tippers are around?" She grumbled.

"Don't worry, Sis, we'll have you back in plenty of time to take your clothes off and shake your ass," Cherry said sarcastically.

"Oh, shaddup shortie.".  Becky sniffed.  "Here, why don't you stand on this box when you talk so we can see you?"

Cherry glared but didn't respond.

Cal smiled a little despite himself.  He had missed this.

"Ok, we're ready.  We've got a problem, though.  The area of the club I need to inspect was completely buried by rubble in the explosion; we can't get to it."

"There's no need to fear; Supersexx is here!"  Super responded confidently.

Ranos rolled his eyes.  "Can't anyone in this group do anything without making goofy cliches?"

"Nope!!" Super snickered.  Hang on, I'll have that cleared out in a jiffy.

****** One Jiffy Later ******

"Ok, Beth, that should do it."

"Thanks, Super" Beth smiled.  "Ok, here we go.  Let's see, Ionizing ramistat up 2 points... Flux Capacitor minus 3..."

"I swear I'm going to pan her", Cait muttered.

"Almost got it..." Beth said, ignoring Cait.  "There! That's it; there's no question about it; that is the signature of a shapeshifter.  That proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cal's story is true.  He was not the one who blew up the club; it was a shapeshifter disguised as Cal that did the deed."

"Cal... I don't know what to say,"  Abby said tearfully.  "We all thought... I mean, it was you. we..."

"It's ok, Abby", Cal cut her off.  "What else COULD you have thought?  If I'd been in your shoes, I'd have thought it was me too".

"Cal, I'm so sorry!"  Cherry cried, running over to Cal and hugging him.  "I don't know how we can ever make this up to you",

"Well, Cherry Hugs is a good start" Cal smiled.

"Ok, this is all really sweet and all, and that's great Cal, I'm happy you're not a mass murderer, but do I have to remind everybody that in some ways, this leaves us even worse off than before?"  Becky exclaimed.  "At least before we knew who we were facing.  Now we have no idea, and even worst than that, it's an enemy that can impersonate any of us.  I don't see how this leaves us in a better position than we were before."

"Well, I can modify the Teslamagitron to project a protective field around the new club that will nullify the hyperstatic radiation and instantly force the shapeshifter into his natural form should he enter the club".  Beth said confidently.

"Of course you can." Cait sighed, rolling her eyes.

"As for not knowing who we're up against, you're wrong; we know exactly who it is.  As you all know, shapeshifting was banned at the club. Yet, when I retrieved the club records from the cloud, I found that there was one known shapeshifter who ignored the rules and frequently came to the club in different forms."

"Oh my God!" Exclaimed Abby as the realization set in.

"Yup", Continued Beth.  "There's only 1 person it could be.  You might remember him coming to the club in his Stitch form, but his natural form was..."

"iSalbot, aka Sal!" Abby gasped.

Beth nodded.

A collective chill went through the entire group.  Things had just gotten a whole lot worse.

End Chapter 5

Chapter 6 - iSal

From the first time iSal ("Sal" for short) appeared at the club, something seemed off about him.  His odd way of talking had earned him the nickname "Flanders" among some of the staff.  Maybe it was the fact that he was a shapeshifter that frequently showed up at the club in his "Stitch" form. Perhaps it was the fact that he always seemed to be trying too hard to fit in.  Whatever it was, there was just something odd about him.  

He seemed harmless enough, though.  Shapeshifting was prohibited at the club due to the possibility of causing drama by impersonating somebody. Still, shapeshifters were few and far between, and Abby let it go in Sal's case.  He just seemed to be more comfortable in his Stitch form, and he seemed harmless enough, so she let it slide.  It's not like he was hurting anybody showing up as Stitch.

He quickly became a regular at the club, coming almost every week for the Friday night event.  Of course, he was welcomed by the staff, as was anyone who came to Heroes that was not intent on causing trouble or drama.  He never quite fit in at the club, though.  His odd demeanor and strange way of talking just had a way of making people keep him at arm's length.  He always just seemed a little off.

Then one day, as suddenly as he had appeared, he stopped coming to Heroes.  Nobody really knew why or what had happened to him, and nobody really made any effort to find out.  People come, and people go when you run a club, even one as famous as Heroes.  That's how it's always been, and that's how it will always be.  Nobody was going to waste valuable time worrying about someone who had clearly just moved on and someone who was not very popular at that.  Shortly after people began to notice he de-friended them.

Months later, after iSal had all but been forgotten at Heroes, an anonymous note was found pinned to the Door of Despair before the club's opening.  "You'll all be sorry" was all it said.  It was undoubtedly from some disgruntled villain who had an ax to grind with somebody they had assumed.  Idle threats like this were not uncommon at the club, and given most of SL's best-known heroes hung out there, it was never shocking.  No one even considered that Sal might be the author of the note.  Sure he had always seemed a little off, but he was harmless enough.

It was a fatal mistake.  The last one that was made at the original Heroes.

End Chapter 6

Chapter 7 - Defcon-1

The next day the entire Heroes staff met at Heroes to discuss strategy and next steps. Cal and Ranos joined them.  Super was conspicuously absent.

"While I'm thrilled beyond description that Cal is innocent", Abby Began, "We can't afford to let our guard down now.  That maniac is still out there, and who knows what he's going to try next".

"Well, if he tries anything at the one year, he'll fail", Beth responded confidently.  "I've got this place locked down.  If he so much as shows his face here, we'll nail him".

"I wish I shared your confidence", Abby replied.  But this guy is nuts; there's no telling..."

Just then, Abby's phone alert went off, indicating an incoming text.  Abby scanned the text quickly, then looked up at the group.  "This is bad", She announced finally.  "He knows we know it was him.  And worse than that, he's got Super.  He's probably got her chained up in a super-secret dungeon somewhere".

"Oh my god, don't jump to conclusions!" Becky said intently.  "How do you know he's got her chained up somewhere?  What, did you suddenly become psychic or something?"

Well, because it says here, "I've got her chained up in my super-secret dungeon", Abby replied flatly.

"Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Becky muttered.

"He must have discovered her one weakness", Cherry stated glumly.

"Kryptonite?" Inquired Ranos?

"What?  No.  You've been watching too much TV." Cherry Responded sharply.   "Super's weakness is Rap Music.  He must be piping it in non-stop to wherever he's holding her captive; it's the only way he'd be able to hold her."

The group gave a collective shudder at the thought of being chained up in a dungeon and forced to listen to Rap music.

"It gets worse", Abby sighed.  "Here, I'll just read it directly":

"So you finally figured out that Caliente is innocent.  And it only took you what, 7 years?  And you call yourselves Heroes.  What a joke.  I thought I was going to die of boredom before you figured it out.  Well, now that you finally have, the real fun can start.  I thought about attacking you at your 1-year party. Still, that would be too easy, and I can't be bothered defeating the weak security measures Beth has implemented there."

Beth frowned but said nothing.  Abby continued...

"No, I'm not going to make a sneak attack; I'm going to come after you straight on.  I've had 7 years to build my army, and I'm going to enjoy watching you all get slaughtered in open combat.  And best of all, you're going to have to take me on without your most powerful champion.  I've captured Supersexx, and I've got her chained up in my super-secret dungeon.  You'll never find her, and even if by some miracle you do, it won't matter.  Even with Super, you don't have a chance.  Get ready.  Your end is coming."

"That's it," Abby said sullenly.  "That's all of it".

The Heroes sat in silence for several seconds trying to digest what Abby had read to them, then finally Beth broke the silence.  "Fine then.  If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he's going to get," She said determinedly.

"Beth, he's had 7 years to build his army," Abby said, the tension in her voice,  "We've got what you see in this room, and not much else.  Without Super, I don't think we have a chance."

Beth smiled. "There's always a chance, Abby.  I'd bet my life on the people in this room.  But we need to move fast.  We'll have to split up.  Abby, I need you and Cal to alert both the Heroes and Infinity groups.  Get every able-bodied hero to suit up and be ready to stand with us.  Ranos, get busy preparing the sheep; we're going to need them!  Cherry, I want you and Becky to reach out to the other Hero sims and see if you can get us some additional firepower.

"Jeez, who died and made her Queen?" Becky muttered.

"Oh, hush Sis", Cherry responded.  She IS the builder and principal owner of the club after all."

Beth ignored the bickering sisters and continued.  "Cait, you've got the most important job of all.  You're our best investigator, so I need you to find out where he's holding Super.  She won't last long being forced to listen to Rap music 24/7, so you'll have to move fast.

"Yeah, right", Cait grunted.  "No pressure or anything..."

"You can do it," Beth said confidently.  Take Cat, Annie, and Wyn with you for support.  Take Fuzzbutt as well, if you can find him.  Go bring back our girl.  I'll get to work in my lab and see what new defenses I can come up with."

"Ok guys, that's about it," Beth said finally.  "iSal has declared war on us, and we're at Defcon-1.  I know it seems impossible, but I'm telling you, if we all succeed at our individual missions, we can beat him.  That's all I've got.  Via Con Dios, my friends.  Go with God.

Beth turned and walked over to the elevator to her lab and disappeared without another word.  One by one, each member of the group turned silently and headed out to start on their missions.  They had no idea when they'd all see each other again.  When, or if.

End Heroes Infinity: A New Beginning - Book 2

***********************************************************************************

Hi Guys, this is Cherry!  I hope you enjoyed the second entry in our little Heroes saga.  I know I had a lot of fun writing it!  I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting us over the past year.  We've had a lot of cool stuff this year, including the RFL weekend, two new venues, lots of new sheep, and Alex, the Seal! I hope you'll keep coming around to find out what happens to our Heroes in the final chapter of our story. (Which will probably be out for the 2 year, but maybe sooner if I get motivated :)). 

In the meantime, Thank you again for all of your love and support from the entire Heroes Staff:

Beth: DJ, Builder, and Owner

Cait: DJ (Currently on Injured Reserve), Panner, and Owner

Cherry: DJ, Story Writer, and Owner

Abby - Principal sponsor and DJ

Becky - DJ

Super - DJ

Kitty - DJ (Currently MIA, and we miss her terribly!)

Annie - Host

Cat   - Host

Wyn - Host

Fuzzbutt - Host (when we can find him!)

Advanced Second Life DJing - Perfecting Your Craft

 Ok so it's been quite a while since my first blog on how to be a GREAT DJ in SL.  Hopefully you found that first blog helpful (and if you haven't read it yet, SHAME ON YOU! Go back and read it immediately, and minus 5 Cherry Points for you! (don't ask on the Cherry Points thing, it's a very long story lolz)).  If you've read the first blog and thought it was all a bunch of BS, then you may as well stop here because this one will just be more BS!  If you thought it was at least semi-useful though (I honestly strive for better than semi-useful, but I'll take what I can get :) ), then keep reading as you may find something worthwhile in this one too.

This blog will be somewhat shorter than the first one (Yes I know, promises promises!) as the first blog is really the foundation of what I think you need to be a kick-ass SL DJ.  This one will focus more on the finer points, and these are the things that will win over a crowd.  So why don't we start there then - crowd building.

Part 1 - Building a Crowd

So who's responsibility is it to get a crowd into the club anyway?  The manager?  The host?  The club owners?  Ok, let me ask the question a different way - Who's set is it?  See I think that's a major difference between mediocre DJs and great DJs.  Mediocre DJs expect to be handed a crowd on a silver platter.  It's everyone elses job to get a crowd into the club.  Great DJs take responsibility for their own crowd.  Now yes, during the set my philosophy is it's the job of the host to get people into the club, and it's the job of the DJ to keep them there.  Building a base crowd is YOUR responsibility though.  Let's face it, nobody is going to stay at a club if they walk in and the only ones there are the DJ, host, and manager.  You need a base crowd to start off with, people you know will follow you and support you.  If you have a solid base crowd of 5 or 6 people, then when people walk in and hear good tunes and see a crowd chatting and having fun, they're far more likely to stick around.  

So how do you build a base crowd?  One person at a time.  SL is by its very nature a social environment, and you should always be networking.  Now being a DJ is a great conversation starter, so you should be sure and dedicate 1 or more picks to DJing.  Whenever you strike up a conversation with somebody it's not at all unusual that your DJ career will come up, so this is a great time to invite them to your set.  If you have a DJ fan group (you ABSOLUTELY should have a DJ Fan group!), ask them if they'd mind if you invite them.  If you friend the person, make a joke that now you can pester them to come to your set.  Pay attention to their reaction and gage their interest.  If they're clearly not interested then let it go, but if they do seem interested in catching your act, make a note of it, make sure you friend them, and then send them a personal invite when you are doing a set and see them on-line.  Now this is a numbers game, and honestly most of the people you meet in this way will never come to your set.  But a few will, and if you make this a regular part of your day, pretty soon you'll have your 5 or 6 crowd base and you can keep building from there.

Now keep your expectations reasonable here.  Despite your best efforts you will have sets where none of your base crowd is available and the club is bone dry.  Be a pro and do your thing to the best of your ability as if you had 25 people in the club.  Make sure the two people that stuck it out with you have a good time, and they will quite possibly come back.  Be consistent and never mail in a set, and network, network, network!  It's a lot of work, but being great is NEVER easy, no matter what the endeavor.

Part 2 - Talking TO People

Notice the emphasis on the TO.  One mistake I see a lot of DJs make is they talk AT their crowd, not TO them.   I've seen DJs make openings like this with just 2 or 3 people in the club:  "Welcome to Club Clueless!  Get ready, because for the next 2 hours you'll be listening to the awesome tunes of DJ Windbag!  If you need a tag please ask our host Hostomatic-2000.  If you have a request just jump in my naughty box and let me know what you want to hear!"

Ok, so that doesn't really sound awful right?  And truthfully its not, but it's robotic, it sounds canned, and it most probably is.  Try not to sound like you're trying to sell something on the home shopping network.  Be intimate with people (and no I don't mean try to hook up with them, this isn't a porno blog!  lolz), talk to them like they're your friends.  Here's an example of how I might start a set at a club I've never worked at before:

"Hi everybody!  Thank you so much for joining us tonight.  Ok, so let's see what we can do about having some fun for the next couple of hours :)  Now I don't really know what you guys like, so I'm just gonna throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks (apologies to whoever has club cleanup duty tonight lolz!).  I'm counting on you guys to help me figure it out though, so hit me with those requests and let me know what YOU want to hear.  What do you say we start off with some Aerosmith, and we'll figure it out from there :)"

And here's how I might start off a set at a club I DJ at every week:

"Hey kids, welcome back to the nuthouse! :)  I'm in a good mood tonight, so let's crank it up to 11 and see if we can have some fun here (That means no requests for you Ranos! (KIDDING!  lolz)).  Ok I'm gonna start off with some Aerosmith, and then... Oh blah blah blah, you guys know what I play, so let's get to it :)  Oh!  And I've got a brand new Metal Zone song coming up later, and it's a really cool one.  I'm not gonna tell you what it is though, on account of I'm mean and I enjoy torturing you lolz!  Trust me though, you will like it <wink>.   Oh, and my awesome hosty is here with tags if you need 'em, so her her up for that, and make sure you show her some love or I'll sic a sheep on you! :)

Ok do you see the difference?  The first one sounds like an announcer for a used car add.  The two I might say sound like you're talking to a bunch of friends.  This is a subtle difference, but subtle differences add up.  This applies whether you use voice or not.  Be intimate, friendly, and fun, not stiff, robotic, and canned.  It does make a difference.  Now obviously you have to be a little more careful if it's a new place that doesn't know you as in my first segment, but you can still come off as friendly and personable.  This won't make or break your DJ career, but it's one more small step up the ladder of being a DJ people come out to see as opposed to a filler DJ.

Part 3 - How to Specialize Effectively

In my previous blog on DJing I said I think you're better off being a specialist than a generalist, which means specializing in one genre of music as opposed to playing everything under the sun.  Now as I said in the first blog this is my own personal opinion and lots of highly successful DJs are generalists, so if that's the route you want to go in your DJ career then it's a perfectly valid way to go, but I follow the other path so I don't have any advice for you.  If you choose to specialize though, you are going to want to do it right, so here are some tips to help you get it right.

First off, while I absolutely think most of your songs and sets should be in your chosen genre, it can be very effective to throw a change-up now and then.  Probably a good 90% of what I play is rock, but I do occasionally throw in some pop, reggae, blues, and hard country.  Notice I didn't house, hip-hop and Jazz because those are just too far out of my zone for me to work them in effectively.  Reggae, Country, and Blues are close cousins of rock, so you can throw those in now and again without having a fatal "Worst Transition Ever!" event.  Don't over use these, changeups are most effective when used sparingly, but do use them.  They can help keep things fun and interesting without alienating your base crowd that is there for the Rock (or whatever you specialize in).

Secondly, be an expert in your chosen genre.  By expert I mean be able to talk about the artists and songs you are playing.  For one thing the crowd expects the DJ to be knowledgeable about the music you're playing, and if you're not then you're just a glorified jukebox.  Additionally, a strong base knowledge of your music can save your life in some sets.  I absolutely guarantee if you DJ long enough you will play for a tough crowd that doesn't want to chat (you get these a lot at "Best in Silly Blue Hats" contests as people just come out to win the lindens).  It's very difficult to have a conversation with yourself, and even if you have a good host filling up 2 hours of conversation with a dead crowd is extremely difficult.  Having some knowledge will at least give you something to talk about, and you can even use this as a tool when you need it.  One trick I use when I'm struggling with a crowd is to change my set up on the fly and throw in some songs I know I can start a conversation with.  For example, I love the band Liliac, which is an up and coming family band that play hard rock covers and originals.  If I'm stuck with a dead crowd I will often throw on a liliac song, and then offer up some info about the band, and even tell a little story about how I found them in the first place as they're not yet a well known band.  The more you know about your chosen genre, the better.

Lastly on this, don't specialize too narrowly.  It's fine to specialize in Rock, but specializing in just British Rock, or Hair Metal, or New Wave is too narrow.  You CAN specialize within your specialty (for example, I'm currently specializing in metal covers of non-metal songs (which I refer to as "The Metal Zone"), but I can play anything from 60s to current, and I can do sets in Motown, Southern Rock, Mashups,  New Wave, Classic Rock, etc.  This give me the ability to keep it fresh without straying out of my chosen specialty.  It also gives me the ability to adjust on the fly to what the crowd is responding to, but that's going to be a separate chapter (Remember when I said this blog was going to be shorter?  I lied!  lolz).

Part 4 - Read Your Crowd, and Avoid Self Indulgence!

This is a hard one, but it's crucial to being an effective DJ and it ties in with the previous chapter of specializing effectively.  Every DJ is going to have a personal preference for what they want to play.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, we all got into this because we love music!  BUT (note the caps for emphasis!  Don't you love how I do that?  lolz), you have to constantly take the pulse of the crowd.  If they're not responding to your Hair Metal set, change it up and find out what they want to hear.  Know where your crowd came from.  If they're your people then you should know what they like, but if the host or the owner or the manger brought them in, then TALK to them!  They want the set to be successful as much as you do, so pick their brains and ask them what the crowd is into.  Now if it's totally outside your zone then just do the best you can, but I'm going to assume the owners and managers are smart enough to not hire a Rock DJ to play to a Romance crowd, so you should be able to find something in your arsenal they can relate to.  

Now changing up on the fly in the middle of a set is extremely difficult, but if you're playing a regular set then you absolutely should be able to adjust from set to set.  If you can't, don't, or won't then you're just being self indulgent and you're putting what you want to hear ahead of what your crowd wants, and this is not the mark of a good DJ.  You can play for yourself and your base crowd anytime, but if the crowd you're currently playing for is responding to Blondie and Huey Lewis, then dump the WASP and Metallica and put in some songs they want to hear.  The reward will be a more engaged crowd and maybe even a new regular or two.  If you can do it in the middle of the set even better, but at the very least make some adjustments for your next set and be ready the next time with a set that's more on point.

Just to give you a short example of self-indulgence, I once worked for a club where the club owner was also a DJ (not at all uncommon), and she loved Afroman and would play something like 4-8 songs from Afroman in each and every set.  Now even I will occasionally do a block, or a mega block of something I want to feature in a set, but doing multiple songs from the same artist in every set simply does not work.  Yes you will probably have one or two others in the crowd who share your love for Afroman (or whatever artist you're over playing), but more often than not everyone else will just get sick of hearing it.  Be smart and play for your crowd. You can can get together with the 2 other Afroman lovers in the crowd after the set and play him to your heart's content.  

Part 5 - Dealing with Requests

There's no arguing that a big part of the DJs job is playing requests.  As I said in my previous blog, you should not only play them, but you should get them on the very next song whenever possible, and the song after that when you can't quite make it.

That being said, you have to remember that your first responsibility is to the entire crowd, and sometimes you have to politely say no.  Now as an owner I leave this up to my DJs when to turn down a request, but there are a few guidelines you can use for when it's ok to say no

1. The Request-a-holic  If you DJ long enough you will inevitably run into this person, the one who requests song after song and seems determined to program your set for you.  My rule of thumb is 2 requests for any one person is plenty, although I might allow more if it's a slow request night.  Rather than turn them down flatly though, I've found the best way to deal with these people is "Jalan".  If you've ever seen the movie "The Air Up There" then you'll know that "Jalan" means "I shall consider it for eternity".  And that's the best way to deal with Request-a-holics.  Play their two requests for them, and then after that just say "Well I've got some stuff ahead of you, but I'll try and get that back on in a bit.  90% of the time this is all you need to do and they will quietly fade into the background and leave you alone.  Now if they behave and it's a slow request night, many times a little later in the set I WILL play their 3rd request, and then I'll tell them "I just had time for one more request and I wanted to make sure I got yours in, so here it is!".  Remember they ARE guests of the club, so deal with them professionally and politely, and if you do it right you can shut them down and still make them happy.

2. The Genre Jumper Don't you love these guys?  You're playing a Hair Metal set (which the crowd is into and responding to), and some joker jumps into your chat box and requests a rap song, or hip-hop, or something else far removed from what you're playing. (I had one last week request some song in Spanish in the middle of a Rock set).  The best way to deal with these people is to politely decline and explain to the person what you play and what the theme of the set is, and then ask if they have anything they'd like to hear within the set guidelines.  If so then play it, but if not then oh well.  This is simply a case of "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one".

3. The Saboteur These guys are my favorite, the ones that think it's funny to intentionally request something that stinks just to sabotage your set.  A flat out "No" is the best way to deal with these people, and "Hell No!" is more than acceptable.

4. The DJ Wannabe This is similar to the Request-a-holic, but in this case I'm referring to a frustrated host who thinks they are a DJ.  Your host is staff, not a guest, and you are never obligated to play a request from your host.  I will generally play one for the host if they ask, but one is all they get, and if they request more then I'll just say "Well let's play some for the crowd for a while", and have a discussion with the host after the set to clarify your respective roles.  You can even offer to train the host as a DJ if they really want to give it a try, but make sure they understand that making multiple requests during a set you are DJing is not appreciated.

Lastly, I want to tell you about a little prop I use that is very helpful in dealing with bad requests - The Request Eating Lion!  This is simply a cute little lion that I put out at my sets (particularly if I know one of the above people is in the crowd), and if somebody requests a song that makes it on the air that is simply awful, I have "Roar!" sound effect that I play and the lion eats the request, and I terminate the song early.  This is one of many props I use in my set, but I already wrote about that in my first blog :).

Part 6 - Imitate and Inovate!

This is actually one of my favorite things about DJing, finding new things to try in sets.  I've innovated my fair share of things over the course of my DJ career, but I've also copied a couple I've seen other DJs do.  I have one rule of thumb for things I copy though, I'm going to do my damndest to do it better than the DJ that thought of it.  So probably the best thing I can do here is to give you a couple of examples of things I've copied,  and of things that I've innovated.

On thing that I copies is "The Word Game"  This is one that one of my favorite DJs, Anita Dagger came up with in which the DJ throws out a word in local chat, and the crowd has to come up with a song that uses that word.  First one that comes up with a song gets her song played.  Being that I'm a DJ I kept coming up with a song first, so she made a rule on the fly that the same person couldn't do 2 in a row (did I mention that Anita is an absolutely brilliant DJ, and one of the best I've ever seen? :) ).  I thought the game was a blast and I used it in a set not long after.  Not to be out-done I reversed it halfway through and would pick a person in the crowd to give me a word which I would then find a song for.  I had to put my own stamp on it after-all :)

The other notable one I copied was "The Battle of The Sexes" which I saw DJ Gwenni do at one of her sets.  DJ Gwenni is a generalist DJ and did the set with kind of a British Pop flavor, so naturally when I did my version I did Rock.  My innovation was I put my knowledge of the Rock Genre to good use and did it as a series of duals and let the crowd vote on who the winner was.  I came up with some very competitive duals, and more than once had someone in the crowd say "I hate you!" when I put their favorite artist up against one of the few from the other side that would give him or her a run.  It was a big hit, and my stamp on it was the voting and making it an ACTUAL contest (which the girls won by a narrow margin!)

And now a couple of my own innovations...

Dueling DJs - This was a set format that my sister MelQT (also one of the best DJs I've ever seen) and I came up with in which we share a set, and switch off on the stream every 30 minutes.  Every time we switch off we change the music theme, so in a 3 hour set my segments might be Girl Power, Covers, and Metal Zone, and Mel might do 70s, Funk, and Live Mixing.  This one takes 2 experienced DJs to pull off, but I've done it with a couple of different DJs since and it's always a big hit.

Raise/Lower platforms - This one has evolved for the years.  I love to dance on stuff, and I noticed that other people do so along with the help of my friend Ranos who did the scripting i made a dance platform that you can raise and lower with chat commands.  We now have 3 of them at Heroes that are permanently in place and can be activated on command.  These are perfect for when you have a big, fun crowd and just want to give it that little extra "Wow!" factor to push the set over the top from "Cool" to "Awesome!"  I try not to over use them, but they're great to have for that little something extra.

Sheep! - I mentioned the party sheep in my first blog, but they've become such an integral part of Heroes that I figured I'd revisit them.  Since my last blog the party sheep have mutated.  We now have SheepyBomb, SuperSheep, FlashSheep, InfinitySheep, JokerSheep, RiddlerSheep, RFLSheep, and probably a couple I forgot.  They never fail to help generate conversation in the club, and they're so cute you can't not love them! :)

The bottom line here is don't just be DJ Jukebox.  Think of things to do in your sets that are fun and keep the crowd engaged, an don't be afraid to try new things.  You never know until you try, and you might find something you can use again and again.  Remember what I said in my first blog: The music is the DJs TOOL.  The DJs JOB is to entertain the crowd, and there's more to that than just playing the music.

Part 7 - A Few Tips for Non-Voice DJs

This one will be fairly short, but I did want to pass on a little advice for those of you who want to pursue a DJ career without using voice.  As I said in my first blog, it can certainly be done but you will have many more opportunities if you learn how to voice.  That being said, here are a few tips for the voiceless DJs

1. Have reasonable expectations - You will have to accept the fact that large, 24/7 clubs like Muddy's or Franks and even smaller but well established operations like Wet Willies or Blackhearts will not even talk to you if you don't voice.  I personally don't agree with this policy, but as the saying goes change what you can change, accept what you can't change, and be smart enough to know the difference.  This is one you can't change, so set your sights a little lower.  A good target for you are new clubs and smaller operations.  Now these clubs may specify that they require voice as well, but they're much more likely to at least talk to you and give you a shot, and if you show that you're a fun, reliable DJ that pulls a crowd and has a following, they won't give a crap about the voice thing.  Join some DJ groups and watch the advertisements.  

2. Be tenacious - If you come across a club you like, even if they say they require voice go ahead and reach out and tell them "I know you say you require voice, and I don't voice but I was wondering if you'd be willing to give me a shot to show you what I can do.  I promise you won't be disappointed!"  They may give you a shot and they may not, but it doesn't hurt to ask.  

3. Be professional - If you DO get a shot, what I always do with a new club is ask if I can come by off hours and just do a practice set with no crowd just to get familiar with the venue.  It really does help to have played a few songs there even if you're by yourself, and your willingness to do it shows your professionalism and will impress the club management.  Talk to the club management and hosts and ask for any suggestions they might have regarding what their crowd likes to hear.  Usually you'll get something back that's not particularly helpful such as "Oh any flavor of Rock is fine", but you'll have registered another point for professionalism for asking.  When it comes time to do the set, show up well in advance of your start time (at least 30 minutes, an hour or more is better),  be prepared with a well thought out, fun set, take ALL requests (I know that contradicts my prior point, but that's for when you're already established.  When you're trying to make an impression, play them all), and for the love of GOD don't TP out 3 minutes after you finish your set. Hang around for a while and support the next DJ and get to know the crowd a little.  Club owners LOVE staff that support the club off hours, so if you give the impression that you'll do that you're much more likely to get hired.

4. Once you get hired, keep doing the stuff that got you hired.  Show up early.  Stick around after your set.  Be fun and entertaining.  Hang around the club.  There's nothing I hate more than staff that you never see in the club unless they're logged in to a tip jar.  Be a part of the team, not a hired gun.

5. Work harder than everyone else, and do your damndest to be the best DJ at the club.  Maybe you will be and maybe you won't, but this is all about striving for greatness.  Watch the other DJs at the club.  Look at it like a competition, and do you bad-ass best to do it better than everyone else at the club.  But don't be a Diva about it!  Praise the other DJs and hosts, and be the person everyone WANTS to work with.

Ok gang, I'm going to end this one here.  This one got to be a LOT longer than I originally intended, but as with the first one, if you find anything useful in here then it was worth it.  Look me up in SL (Cherry Breiz), I'd LOVE to hear from you, and by all means please stop by my club and check us out!  Until then, this is DJ CherryBomb, Over and Out! <wink>

XX-Cherry-XX